1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone handset that provides audible information regarding the operation of the handset and a technique for remotely accessing a handset without interfering with an answering machine or voice mail.
2. Background Information
Telephone handsets are typically sold with an operating manual. The manual describes how to operate various functions and features of the phone. For example, the manual may describe how to store phone numbers into memory of the handset. The manual is sometimes lost or otherwise not available to the user. This may lead to user frustration and non-use of certain functions of the phone. It would be desirable to provide a handset that allows the user to access operating instructions of the phone. It would also be desirable to access the operating instructions from a remote location.
Acquiring operating instructions or otherwise accessing a phone from a remote location requires dialing into the telephone handset. If the handset is connected to an answering machine or voice-mail, these devices may interfere with the accessing of the phone. For example, the answering machine or voice-mail may activate after a set number of rings before the user can access the phone. Increasing the ring count of the answering machine and/or voice mail may cause the operating instruction retrieval function to always be activated. Consequently, either the answering machine/voice mail or handset remote access programs will be cut-off regardless of the ring count of the devices. It is therefore desirable to provide a method for allowing remote access to a phone without conflicting with voice-mail or an answering machine.
A telephone handset that can be remotely activated. The handset contains a line interface circuit that can detect a plurality of ring signals on a telephone line. The phone line is also coupled to a secondary phone device that has a line voltage detection circuit which detects a voltage drop within a predetermined time interval. The handset contains a controller that can generate a tone signal to be transmitted onto the telephone line. The caller can provide an activation signal in response to the tone signal to activate the handset. The handset connects onto the telephone line for a time interval to detect the activation signal. The line connect time interval is less than the predetermined time interval of the line voltage detection circuit.